In The Solar System
The following is a list of natural satellites and environments in the Solar System with a possibility of harboring extraterrestrial life.
| Name | System | Article | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Europa | Jupiter | Life on Europa | A subsurface ocean is maintained by geologic activity, tidal heating, and irradiation. The moon may have more water and oxygen than Earth and a thin oxygen atmosphere. |
| Enceladus | Saturn | Water could be maintained liquid under the surface due to geothermal activity. | |
| Titan | Saturn | Life on Titan | Its atmosphere is considered similar to the early Earth although it is somewhat thicker. The surface is characterized by hydrocarbon lakes, cryovolcanos, and eventually by rain and snow. It has a remote possibility of an exotic methane-based biochemistry. |
| Callisto | Jupiter | Thought to have a sub-surface ocean heated by tidal forces. | |
| Io | Jupiter | Due to its proximity to Jupiter, it is subject to intense tidal heating which makes it the most volcanically active object in the Solar System. The outgasing generates a trace atmosphere. | |
| Triton | Neptune | Triton orbits retrograde around Neptune and cannot haved formed in-situ. It is believed to be a captured member from a former binary. Its high orbital inclination with respect to Neptune's equator drives significant tidal heating, responsible for the dashing surface arrangements observed by the Voyager 2 space probe. This heating possibly maintains a layer of liquid water or a subterranean ocean. | |
| Charon | Pluto | Possible internal ocean of water and ammonia evidenced by possible cryovolcanic activity. |
Read more about this topic: Natural Satellite Habitability
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“Our civilization has decided ... that determining the guilt or innocence of men is a thing too important to be trusted to trained men.... When it wants a library catalogued, or the solar system discovered, or any trifle of that kind, it uses up its specialists. But when it wishes anything done which is really serious, it collects twelve of the ordinary men standing round. The same thing was done, if I remember right, by the Founder of Christianity.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
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